Thursday, September 9, 2010

John Ensign Isn't Done Yet

Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) recently told a group of business leaders at a local Nevada golf club that if no one holds lawmakers on Capitol Hill accountable, they'll just wind up embroiled in controversy and scandal.

According to the Reno Gazette Journal, the embattled lawmaker explained, "If you don't hold us accountable, we'll do some real bad things in Washington, D.C."

The sex scandal engulfing Sen. John Ensign deepened Wednesday after his former mistress' husband made new allegations about the relationship, saying the Nevada Republican paid the woman more than $25,000 in severance when she stopped working for him last year.

Doug Hampton made the accusation in a TV interview with Las Vegas Sun columnist Jon Ralston. He also provided the newspaper with an emotional letter purportedly from Ensign to Hampton's wife, Cynthia, calling the months-long relationship a "sin."

"I used you for my own pleasure," the letter reads, later adding, "Plain and simple it was wrong; it was sin."

The letter, which the Sun put on its website, and Doug Hampton's interview with Ralston marked another embarrassment for Ensign, 51, a Christian conservative who abruptly came forward last month and confessed to the affair.

A severance payment could pose campaign finance or ethics issues for the senator.

See, Ensign didn't want to cheat on his wife, he just needed to show everyone what happens if you don't hold lawmakers accountable. Although if Ensign said he was capable of "real bad things" and he wasn't including an affair with his staffer's wife, what does he have in store for his next term? Killing a man? Treason?